Yeah okay, so I'm a day late on this. And anyway I've already written enough on the subject this month; you can just go here and here.

... just in case anybody wants to know why I'm not a big Dennis Kucinich fan -- and how it particularly disturbs me that I could get all the way through the 2004 election cycle without hearing about his history on this even once. Folks who call themselves "progressives" really need to be clear on what they're fighting for, preferably before they choose a standard bearer.

in other news, the national NARAL organization (to which I am no longer a contributor, though I still give to state orgs) needs to pull its head out of its ass. Convincing Nancy Keenan to resign might be a good first step.

what I mean by that is using the anti-abortion folks' favored terminology, discussing it in a way that implicitly supports the social conservative position even while one is nominally opposed to it. This gives "bipartisan" cover to that position while cutting the legs out from under those of use that are trying to fight it.

E.g., saying things like, "The fact is that most Americans, including myself, are uncomfortable with abortions and feel there are too many of them," which plays into conservative hands by conflating abortions at all stages of pregnancy, which their primary mode of argument, which is to refuse to acknowledge any difference at all between a 1st trimester or 3rd trimester abortion. And even if he feels this way, he cites no evidence for how everybody else feels, just takes it as given that all abortions are created equal, they're all bad, and nearly everybody agrees.

Now I could easily believe that most Americans are uncomfortable with 3rd-trimester abortions of viable fetuses (as if this happens a lot), but I would also wager that the vast majority of Americans have no problem whatsoever with with Plan B, RU-486, disposal of embryos by fertility clinics, their use in stem cell research, or abortions that otherwise take place within the first few weeks of pregnancy -- especially once you point out how often fertilized eggs get flushed out naturally or never even implant in the first place.